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:: PC Perspective . News
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.:Latest News
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: General Tech
If you drop by The Tech Talk forum you will bump into a bit of discussion about AMD and what they are doing in the near future, such as a sneak peek at an MSI board that seems to have a Lucid Hydra chip on it, something which makes Ryan's news post even more interesting. You can also grab some information and a bit of snark in this thread about AMD finally bringing developers out of the cold. There is even a lucky member who managed to get their hands on some unidentified chips, though tracking down exactly what they are might be difficult.
In the Video Card forum it is more about nVIDIA, with excitement building about their upcoming launch and the slight misstep with a recent driver. In the Storage Forum you can follow the steps needed to get a newer HDD working on an older board and a discussion about the difference between sectors, clusters and allocation units. Drop into the Linux forum and you can read about a nice little success story involving a presentation or hit the Windows forum for a solution to an odd problem. On the other hand if you are looking for something different, the Off Topic Forum is always there for you, just like anyone looking for a little political discussion can always find a home in The Lightning Round. Last but certainly not least, you can catch the 97th instalment of the PC Perspective Podcast on our front page, this time featuring Ryan and Colleen in the same room!
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Motherboard
The ASUS Maximus III Extreme is one of those rare birds that utilizes the nForce 200 chipset to handle the PCI Express; the main chipset is an Intel P55. This allows full 16x speeds on dual graphics card setup and even allows dual 16x and single 8x if you are looking to build a PC with three graphics cards, any more than that and the slots revert to 8x, though with 4 GPUs that should still allow some serious power. There is a huge list of features on this board, perhaps one of the most unique is the ROG Connect Bluetooth which supports Android 2.0 and Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5. This board picked up a Silver Award from [H]ard|OCP; read the full review to see why.
"The Maximus III Extreme is the newest member of ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamers) product line, with the board squarely aimed at the high end enthusiast market. With the stiff competition in the Intel arena currently, this board definitely has its work cut out for it. We take a good look at what the MIIIE can do for the air and water cooling overclockers." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Tech Report | Subject: System
The Tech Report has been playing with a system based around a Gigabyte X38–DQ6 and an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 CPU and have two main targets in mind. The first is to make the PC as cost effective as possible and the second is a little more ambitious, to install OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
They do have a guide on what to do to the BIOS and successfully installed and booted the machine. Now that the machine works, find out what features can and can't be expected to perform properly.
"In the third and final chronicle of his Hackintosh building experiment, TR blogger Jason Fox writes about his experience first booting up his Franken-Mac with Apple's operating system and getting everything up and running." Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PureOverclock | Subject: Storage
Kingston has released the second generation of their larger capacity SSDs, the V+ SNVP325-S2 128GB SSD which uses the rare Toshiba T6UG1XBG controller, a controller we are not very familiar with. Kingston claims sequential reads of 230MB/s and writes of 180MB/s, which PureOverclock put to the test in their review. As their results show, this drive has no problems keeping its writes above the 200MB/s mark and the response time measured under Everest is nothing short of incredible. It's a shame the drive will cost you over $700 or about $2.75/Gb. "The Kingston SNVP325-S2 is a 2nd generation SSD that uses Toshiba internals to boost performance and support TRIM out of the box. We do love that, no question. Flashing, firmware, and TRIM can be confusing to consumers, and it's nice to see that Kingston has eliminated that potential anxiety. We've seen some very fast SSDs, and the Indilinx-based drives have proven extremely popular amongst enthusiasts. But Kingston has been working diligently to penetrate further into the marketplace via Intel-rebadged drives, and they've had a couple hit and misses, but this new Toshiba drive looks very impressive from its specifications. But it is in a tough segment in the mainstream SSD market."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Slashdot | Subject: General Tech
Heat is of course the number one unwanted byproduct of semi-conductors and getting rid of it is becoming harder and harder. You can see the effects of this on the industry, as they try to create CPUs that require less power to do more calculations but we have already passed the point when strapping a kilogram of copper to a CPU is not unusual. Exotic solutions like peltiers and watercooling have become much more popular and is not limited to those brave few who wanted to build an entire cooling loop from scratch.
The release of the 6 core Gulftown processor yesterday just makes this cooling problem more obvious, as there are now half again as many heat producing cores in the i7 980X. The next step we are hoping for is 3 dimensional cores, where they can be stacked on top of one another as opposed to side by side, something that will be necessary if you do not want chips to start being several inches per side. Some bright fellows at MIT have come up with a new material that might just help prevent CPUs of that size from happening. According to Slashdot they have discovered a certain type of polyethylene fibre that is able to move thermal energy in a single direction. "The new process causes the polymer to conduct heat very efficiently in just one direction, unlike metals, which conduct equally well in all directions. ... The key to the transformation was getting all the polymer molecules to line up the same way, rather than forming a chaotic tangled mass, as they normally do. The team did that by slowly drawing a polyethylene fiber out of a solution, using the finely controllable cantilever of an atomic-force microscope, which they also used to measure the properties of the resulting fiber. This fiber was about 300 times more thermally conductive than normal polyethylene along the direction of the individual fibers, says the team’s leader..." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
Regardless, tonight we saw something shown at GDC 2010 that was very interesting; using an NVIDIA GPU to scale a multi-monitor AMD-based Eyefinity gaming configuration. While we have been thinking that this combination would be possible with the HYDRA technology at its theoretical levels, this is the first time we have seen it in action. 
While the demo setup only used two displays, it will work with any number of monitors The idea is pretty straight forward: because Windows 7 sees the multi-monitor setup as a single contiguous display from the AMD graphics card, the HYDRA driver can accelerate it regardless of the complexity of the driver and hardware on the AMD side. Even though this demo was using only a two monitor configuration, that was due to cabling confusion during setup and it will apparently have no problems accelerating 3 or even 6 display options. 
Here you can see a GTX 260+ (in red) and the ASUS HD 5770 (in black) at work together on the Eyefinity configuration The system on display was using a Radeon HD 5770 from ASUS to run the two monitors and also included a GeForce GTX 26+ graphics card in the secondary PCIe slot. This was of course all running on the MSI Big Bang Fuzion motherboard with the HYDRA 200 chip. Performance scaling was there, though we only got to see HAWX running on this demo.
Seeing the HYDRA technology apply in this case really reiterates the fact that I have felt all along; if the Lucid team can get it working in a stable, reliable and consistent manner across major titles and games then I see no reason why gamers wouldn't want this technology on their motherboards as an option. That is a pretty big and complicated "if" though, so we will continue to monitor what Lucid is doing on the software side of this story and let you guys know how things progress.
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
Some interesting pictures found their way to me of an upcoming graphics card from ASUS, the Radeon HD 5870 ROG MATRIX Edition (Republic of Gamers). This card appears to offer quite a bit more in the way of overclocking than nearly any other GPU we have seen to date.
The design on the PCB and cooler is completely custom and offers superior cooling compared to the reference design from AMD. 
It requires not just one but TWO 8-pin PCIe power connectors; that should give you a good idea of the amount of power that the card will be pulling at its top performance levels.
The external connectors include a dual-link DVI output, DisplayPort output and HDMI connection which means that this card will be able to support Eyefinity but only to resolutions as high as 1920x1200 (the limitation of the HDMI connection).
Notice that little button that is labeled "Safe Mode"? This graphics card will be able to be very heavily voltage modded and overclocked and in fact ASUS is going to allow users to flash the higher, overclocked speeds to the BIOS on the card rather than requiring software to overclock it as the operating system boots. This means the card will be hardware overclocked and it will not require Windows (after the initial flash) or any applications to be running on your sleek and clean-running gaming PC. That button is your parachute for when you push it too hard and the card refuses to post or boot at the higher clocks. A simple press of that button will revert the speeds to the ASUS defaults via a second BIOS chip and you'll be able to start fresh. 
The PCB design is completely custom and it looks like the card will actually have 2GB of frame buffer than the the standard 1GB. Also, along the top of the memory chips you'll see a set of small circular connections for users to connect leads and monitor various voltages from the core, memory, 12V and more.
This obviously isn't going to be your daddy's gaming card - only the most serious gamers and overclockers need apply. More on this card soon as we get it!
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Case and Cooling
[H]ard|OCP compares the cooling prowess of 4 heatsinks that will cost you less than $40. Some, like the SCYTHE Shuriken Rev.B
just are not up to the task of cooling a Core i7 while others like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2 emulated the performance of the stock cooler. The Cooler Master N520performed very well and still costs less than $40, but the old standby of the Thermalright CoGage Ture Spirit still remains the best value.
"Lots of CPU cooling to do? Not a lot of money? We take a look at three sub-$40 CPU air coolers and see what we get. If you are looking for a speedy build on a budget, maybe one of our somewhat under-the-radar coolers will help you out." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Processor
With the Core i7 980X Intel has not only shipping out the first 6 core/12 thread CPU, it has also delivered one of the biggest stock heatsinks to date. That size will enable you to actually get a decent overclock without resorting to a third party cooler; though if you already have one for your current i7 system it will certainly be compatible and let you go further. The scaling from the additional two cores is rather impressive especially when looking at the more processor intense rendering applications though Ryan did hit an interesting snag on the 7-Zip benchmark as it decided that 6GB of RAM was not enough to support 12 threads and limited the testing to 8 threads. The 980X did still manage a lead of 23% in that test. The price will actually match the price of the current top end processor, the i7 975, so if you were planning an upgrade you should hold on for a few weeks as the new 6 core 980X is a superior chip.
"Intel continues to prove its dominance in the CPU world with the release of the Core i7-980X hexa-core processor. With 12 threads of computing power behind it the new Extreme Edition part offers computing power unrivaled by other desktop processors especially when looking at heavily threaded workloads and applications. Gaming doesn't see a big performance boost yet, though Intel assures us that more and more game engines being written are going to push multi-threaded performance benefits very soon." Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
Allyn Malventano | Source: OCZ Technology | Subject: Storage
Today OCZ released a new 'Onyx' line of SSD's. Their aim is the low end market this time around, focusing on smaller capacities and modest performance. The first entry of the line will be only 32GB in capacity, limiting it to boot-only duties. Sequential transfer rates top out at 125 MB/sec for reads and 70 MB/sec for writes.
We suspect this new model might be using an Indilinx controller with fewer channels than the larger capacity offerings. More to follow as we gather additional info on this new model.
SAN JOSE, CA—March 10, 2010—OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (OTCBB:OCZT), a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today unveiled the OCZ Onyx SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, an ultra-affordable MultiLevel Cell (MLC)-based solid state storage solution designed for consumers looking to take advantage of flash-based storage technology. Offering a faster and more durable alternative to traditional hard drives in a cost-efficient SSD, the Onyx delivers reliable performance without the high price normally associated with SSD drives.
“As new technologies become available, OCZ continues to expand both our enterprise and consumer SSD lines, and one of our goals is to make SSDs more affordable to end-users. Our new Onyx series SSD does exactly that and is a perfect solution for netbooks, laptops, or home desktop PCs,” commented Ryan Petersen, CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “Designed to offer the best of both worlds, the new OCZ Onyx SSD delivers the speed and reliability of solid state storage to mainstream consumers at an aggressive price point that makes the technology more accessible to customers who want to take advantage of all the benefits of the SSDs without incurring the high cost normally associated with the solution.” With a sub 100 dollar MRSP the aggressively priced Onyx 32GB SSD delivers an enhanced computing experience with faster application loading, snappier data access, shorter boot-ups, and longer battery life. Onyx SSDs feature HDD-dominating access times, up to 125MB/s read and 70MB/s write speeds, 64MB of onboard cache, and unique performance optimization to keep the drives at peak performance over the long term. OCZ Onyx SSD drives feature a durable yet lightweight housing, and because OCZ SSDs have no moving parts, the drives are more rugged than conventional hard drives. Available first in 32GB capacity the Onyx state drives are ideal for use as a boot up drive or for mobile PCs and Netbooks as a quality hard drive replacement. Designed for ultimate reliability, Onyx SSDs have an excellent 1.5 million hour mean time between failure (MTBF), and OCZ also offers a leading 3-year warranty and award-winning technical support with the series, making SSDs a more viable upgrade for users requiring ultimate levels of customer service.
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Editorial
Are you ready for the PC Perspective Podcast LIVE right here or by visiting http://live.twit.tv/?? Lots of great topics on the agenda for today!!!
Be sure to subscribe to our show right here: http://twit.tv/twich 
Jonathan Hung | Source: MSI | Subject: Mobile
Today MSI is announcing their latest X-Slim series notebook, the 13.3" X360.
We first saw this notebook back in January at CES 2010 and now we have firmer details on the specifications that will be available.
The X-Slim X360 will be using low-voltage Intel Core i5-520UM Arrandale CPUs which helps give the X360 a reported 9 hours of battery life (likely on the 8-cell extended battery, but this needs to be confirmed -Ed.). The screen is 13.3" at 1366x768 using Intel's HD Graphics integrated with the CPU, and there is HDMI output. The X-Slim X360 weighs 3 lbs. and is less than 1" thick. No word on pricing or availability at the moment. "Taipei–The X360, the latest step in the evolution of MSI's beautiful
X-Slim series of notebooks, comes with the Intel Arrandale ULV
processor to provide outstanding performance with a longer-lasting,
more environmentally friendly battery. The X360 comes with the Intel
Core i5 processor with Intel Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading
technology. The Intel HM55 chipset gives the X360 high-quality
audio/video performance and 9 hours of ultra-long battery life.
MSI Notebook Marketing Director Sam Chern points out that the X360 features the standard ultra-thin body and feather pattern lines common with the rest of the X-Slim series. Weighing only 1.4kg and less than 1-inch thick, the X360 boasts MSI's own chic rhombic pattern and Color Film Print. The brilliant blending of the X360's rhombic and diamond designs underscore the X-Slim X360's distinctive style." Visit this link for the full press release. 
PS. The word of the day is "rhombic". Try using that in a sentence some time today. :)
Jonathan Hung | Source: MSI | Subject: Case and Cooling
MSI has two new portable notebooks available in North America: the Wind U160 and the Wind U230.
Up first is the Wind U160 netbook which sports an Intel Atom N450 and an excellent 15 hour battery life using MSI's ECO mode. MSI has also done away with the traditional clamshell design and is using a more industrialized look. Like the previous U120, the U160 employs a raised chiclet keyboard, a 10" display, 1GB of RAM, and a 6-cell battery. The Wind U160 retails for $379.99. 
Next is the Wind U230 which is a 12".1 sub-notebook that uses AMD processors, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics (1366x768 resolution), 2GB of RAM, and has HDMI output to complete the experience. The U230 weighs just 3.3 lbs and satisfies the itch for a well-rounded, yet inexpensive portable system. There are two Wind U230 variants: the U230-033 and U230-040. The 033 uses an Athlon Neo MV-40 and a 250GB HDD for $429.99, while the 040 uses an Athlon X2 L335 and a 320GB HDD for $479.99. Both the U160 and the U230 models are available now at NewEgg.For more information on these models, check out MSI's mobile website. 
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: Memory
G.Skill's new DDR-1600 ECO Kit 4 GB might not offer the fastest frequency on the market, what it does offer are low timings of 7-8-7-24 and a voltage of 1.35V to keep the heat down. That isn't even as far as it will go on those stock settings as techPowerUp! hit 1715 MHz without touching the voltage and bumping the voltage up to 1.5V let them hit a healthy speed of 1.8GHz. If you are running a P55 system and are looking for some nice low latency RAM that you can play with, this kit is worth your consideration. "G.Skill is offering a full range of P55 compatible memory kits, with the ECO being one of them. As the name implies, the memory aims to deliver the most performance while only requiring a mere 1.35V to run at 1600 MHz CL7-8-7." Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Legion Hardware | Subject: Case and Cooling
With a pair of HD5870's in Crossfire and a wide variety of chips, Legion Hardware takes a look at how CPU power changes the performance of these cards. They tried a Core i7 and i3 as well as a pair of AMD chips, a Phenom II X4 and an X2 and played with their clock speeds to simulate a large number of models available for those respective chip families. Setting the resolution to 1680x1050 takes the graphics card out of the equation and lets the performance of the CPU shine through. Read on to see how these various CPUs scale.
"However what the data recorded in this article suggests is when future games became more demanding on the CPU, the Core i7 is going to provide a higher level of performance. While this is a very likely scenario, the Core i7 has been available for well over a year now and this still has not happened. Therefore in terms of value, the Phenom II X4 still makes more sense for gaming purposes." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: General | Subject: Mobile
Warpia is announcing Easy Dock, a new wireless docking station that allows any notebook or netbook (including Macs) to wirelessly dock with a separate display, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. A USB transmitter is attached to your system, while a receiver with 2 USB ports, DVI output, and line-out audio attaches to your peripherals. This allows you to put your notebook nearly anywhere, while giving you the creature comforts of a desktop configuration. This could potentially be useful in tight places, clean installations, and multi-user environments. The Warpia Easy Dock sells for $149, which is a bit more than your traditional wired docking station.
"SAN JOSE, California, Mar. 9 – Source R&D announced today the availability of the Warpia Easy Dock, which will allow users to wirelessly connect their notebook/netbook/Macbook to any traditional desktop setting. With the Easy Dock’s straightforward plug-and-play interface, consumers can have both the convenience and portability of a laptop, as well as the comfort of a desktop computer. Easier on the eyes, ears and hands, users will no longer have to squint at a miniature screen, deal with a below average sound quality, or fumble with a tiny keyboard. Based on wireless technology from Wisair, a leading provider of single-chip based Wireless USB solutions, the Easy Dock consists of a USB dongle that connects to your laptop and a receiver that connects to your monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers. Your laptop will instantly recognize the dongle and begin submitting a wireless signal to the receiver, transmitting the image with a resolution of up to1400×1050 to your monitor’s screen."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: OCMODSHOP | Subject: Display
Zalman's new Zm-M220W
LCD is a 22" stereoscopic display, giving you a 3D view with the help of nVIDIA's standard stereoscopic driver, but not their active shutter glasses. This LCD does all the work, allowing you to use passive glasses to enjoy the 3D effects. OCMODSHOP tried it out at several trade shows and they offer you a look at the display as well as a list of all of the games that are currently compatible. The monitor runs about the same price as a non-3D display, so why not check it out.
"While visiting Zalman at a few trade shows, I was introduced to their new stereoscopic 3d monitor: the Zalman Trimon 22-inch monitor. nVidia has been showing off their own solutions that use any regular monitor, so what makes this monitor different, and why would you want to buy one? I spoke with Richard Chung of Zalman, who gave me the lowdown on this explained to me the differences between the Zalman monitor and nVidia's 3d solution. For one, this 22-inch 3D LCD monitor is optimized for gaming purposes, supporting 3D and 2D realizations." Here are some more Display articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AnandTech | Subject: General Tech
AnandTech has done a little bit of math and pointed out a little problem that will hit us by the end of the year. With the new CPU's coming from both companies and the fact that they will have several dozen cores or threads, that 4Gb/s connection will be split up so many ways that it will no longer be fast enough to feed those CPUs. We will be seeing servers with such incredible density that 100Gb/s services are no longer a dream, they will be a necessity to anyone wanting to take advantage of Magny-Cours or Nehalem EX. Drop by and see what solutions they see as feasible in a world where several dozen virtual machines have to share a connection.
"In the second quarter of this year, we’ll have affordable servers with up to 48 cores (AMD’s Magny -cours) and 64 threads (Intel Nehalem EX). The most obvious way to wield all that power is to consolidate massive amounts of virtual machines on those powerhouses. Typically, we’ll probably see something like 20 to 50 VMs on such machines. Port aggregation with a quad-port gigabit Ethernet card is probably not going to suffice. If we have 40 VMs on a quad-port Ethernet, that is less than 100Mbit/s per VM. We are back in the early Fast Ethernet days. Until virtualization took over, our network intensive applications would get a gigabit pipe; now we will be offering them 10 times less? This is not acceptable." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: ASUS | Subject: Motherboard
If you have picked up a new 890GX based AMD motherboard you might have noticed something missing from the BIOS. Here at PC Perspective we have talked quite a bit about Advanced Clock Calibration, Josh first mentioned ACC in his review of the 790GX in September of 2008. Of course, the reason that ACC is so popular is that it enables a lucky few to enable the disabled core on X3 models of Phenom II or Athlon II processors or turn a Sempron into an Athlon X2. Not every processor has a working disabled core which is how luck comes into the equation, though with a little patience and an accommodating store you might be able to return processors until you get one that works.
Now that ACC is gone there is still a way to unlock those cores on a 890GX board, the trick is that you have to buy a board that comes from ASUS. Thanks to their Core Unlocker Technology, you can still unlock those cores and the process is even easier than it was before! ASUS continues its innovation leadership with the first AMD 890GX based motherboards featuring SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0**, and exclusive core unlocking technology. Additionally, as part of the Xtreme Design line-up, the M4A89GTD PRO Series delivers exceptional reliability and performance. 
A Simple Way to Boost Performance with Core Unlocker
Users can determine how to implement this innovative technology by sliding a switch on the motherboard, changing a BIOS setting, or simply pressing the “4” key when the machine first starts. Core Unlocker makes it simple thanks to ASUS’ award winning Turbo V EVO hardware and software. The M4A89GTD PRO Series also features enhanced overlocking performance, auto-tuning technology, improved power savings, and class-leading cpu/chassis fan controls with our exclusive Fan Expert software. “ASUS is proud to continuously provide unique performance options such as TurboKey II for easy overclocking, GPU Boost, and Core Unlocker via our award-winning Turbo V EVO solution.” said Timothy Lin, Motherboard Product Manager. With the M4A89GTDPRO /USB3 ASUS has engineered the best experience possible for AMD platform users.” Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit www.asus.com for more details. *Not all processors are supported. Core Unlocker results may vary.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Think Computers | Subject: Case and Cooling
No, it is not an old soft drink making a comeback, the In Win Fanqua Mid Tower Chassis is a tool-less chassis with good airflow and space for nine external 5.25" drives and up to three 3.5" internal drives. The fans are protected from vibration by rubber feet, a nice touch especially on the oversized 220mm side fan. It is a decent case overall, if perhaps a strange colour mix for anyone who isn't a huge fan of black and green. If you are a devoted fan and have a few XFX products, you could really get a theme going. More at Think Computers.
"In Win isn’t a widely known company, but it is slowly starting to get to there. Their unique cases are a different from the norm and the In Win Fanqua Mid Tower Chassis that we have to review today is no exception. Supporting up to nine drives the Fanqua houses four fans: three 120mm and one 220mm blue LED fan which lights up the entire case. In Win has also developed many tool-free devices to help ensure a fast and easy installation. Read on further to find out more about this case." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: General Tech
If you were born after the death of printed magazines then you can be forgiven for the confusion you might feel about what PopSci is. For those who have been geeks for a long while, you probably have fond memories of the magazine Popular Science. Now you can revisit that feeling as Google and PopSci have teamed up together to put the entire 137 years of PopSci online, searchable and readable for free. Keep up with the newer publications or delve back into the past years to see what they thought the future we are currently living in would look like.
We've partnered with Google to offer our entire 137-year archive for free browsing. Each issue appears just as it did at its original time of publication, complete with period advertisements. It's an amazing resource that beautifully encapsulates our ongoing fascination with the future, and science and technology's incredible potential to improve our lives. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. In the future, we'll be adding more advanced features for searching and browsing, but for now, enter any keyword into the box below and dive in.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: System
Almost all TV Tuner cards come with a remote control to add to the pile that likely lives on your coffee table, though some abandon that in favour of a wireless mouse and keyboard. techPowerUp! wants you to know about another option, the
Soundgraph FingerVU 706. While it may look like a digital picture frame, it is in fact a 7" touch screen monitor that lets you control your PC or HTPC as long as you don't mind the cord. It can also function as a secondary display and input device for those without an HTPC. Of course, even this accessory comes with a remote, allowing you to remotely control something that is remotely controlling your PC.
"Soundgraph is well known for their LCD and VFD products in the majority of HTPC enclosures from virtually all major brand names out there. The new FingerVU series takes the control of the PC to the next level with a 4" or 7" inch, high-res, USB powered LCD touch screen at your finger tips." Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Techware Labs | Subject: General Tech
For some bizarre reason there are people who do not like having large amounts of room being taken up by large speakers in a 7.1 configuration. Perhaps they have limited space or just do not appreciate the wonder that is a proper wall of sound. For those who choose to go that way, Techware Labs has reviewed a kit that offers wireless 2.1 sound. The EOS system consists of a receiver/broadcaster, wireless signal receivers and speakers, so drop by if that is your cup of tea.
"More and more great music is being transmitted to you via the web, break out of your browser and together with the EOS loudspeaker system you can fill your house with sound." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: InsideHW | Subject: Mobile
It is not quite available yet but when the ASUS G73J hits the shelves it will be among the best gaming notebooks on the planet. Inside will be a Intel Core i7-720QM @ 1.6 GHz on an Intel HM55 board, with 8GB of DDR3 and a mobile HD5870 with 1GB of RAM. Add in a 17.3" monitor @ 1920x1080 and you have a notebook that outclasses most desktop systems. Of course the MSRP is going to top $2000, so it will also be more expensive than most desktops. Drop by InsideHW for a look at this beast.
"Let’s say it straight out - Asus G73J is a notebook with the fastest graphics card in the world, full stop. If you want to play games on your notebook, and don’t have financial issues, look no further. Truth be told, there are notebooks with two graphics cards, which are faster, but don’t have DirectX 11 support, which leaves Asus G73J with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 graphics card as your weapon of choice…" Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Digitimes | Subject: General Tech
Acer is planning on a new ultra thin line of notebooks with no frame and a keyless touch keyboard, according to DigiTimes. Combining those two features does offer a way to make the MacBook Air look like it has a beer gut, but that is not the most interesting fact about these notebooks. If reinforced glass is strong enough to be the back shell of a notebook, obviously it could also be used in a standard desktop monitor. An all glass monitor would have absolutely no bezel on the sides; can anyone say EyeFinity? Even if you have to strip the monitors out of a notebook, it might still be cheaper than picking up one of the thin bezelled monitors that should be hitting the market. Notebook displays are a little on the small side, you might want to pick up six of them.
"Acer plans to launch a new ultra-thin notebook that will feature a touch keyboard and use the back of the panel's glass substrate as the cover in the second half of 2010, according to sources from notebook players. Acer is expected to adopt Corning's reinforced glass substrate and simply print color on its back to allow the substrate to function like a notebook cover for a frameless design. The design will help reduce the thickness of the ultra-thin notebook and can also reduce material costs. Acer will also adopt a touch keyboard to allow the notebook to be even thinner, the sources noted." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: General | Subject: General Tech
It's the weekend and time to kick back with some good old PC gaming. There are some worthy PC gaming news this week so let's get down to it.
Metro 2033 Goes Gold and launches a new trailer. What could be a surprise hit this season, Metro 2033 has gone gold and celebrates with a new trailer. I'm really interested in this game and the early previews made it sound promising. Public beta of RUSE, the multi-touch interactive RTS, is coming to Steam. Are you ready for a multi-touch RTS? Seems like a thing notebook users can take advantage of if they can even run this game. Desktop systems, not so much unless they have a device like the Wacom Bamboo (read the review here). Just Cause 2 for the PC features unique graphics - NVIDIA only. It's nice to see developers putting some effort into making their PC ports a bit better than the original console release. Ubisoft's new DRM for PC games gets examined by PC Gamer and it sounds like the benefits Ubisoft is touting with the DRM is pretty flat. Also, it is rumoured the DRM has already been cracked, and Ubisoft has already updated it to v1.1 even though no game has been released with it yet. If this is Ubi's exit strategy for PC gaming, then I think it's working out pretty well don't you think? (That's sarcasm in case you didn't feel it. :). Other PC gaming headlines:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
You have likely seen other hardware and news sites posting pictures and video of some preliminary testing with a 6-panel Eyefinity gaming configuration, but I thought I would share this picture taken by our own A/V editor Ken A.
We have the 2GB Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity Edition graphics card in our test system and 6 Dell 22-in panels configured in a 3x2 group and as you can see here in Aliens vs Predator, it is working. It has not been without issues and bugs though...AMD is getting us some additional hardware and is promising another major driver update before public availability to address some of the problems.
There is going to be a heated debate about this technology and we are looking forward to providing a forum for the discussion! Check back here on pcper.com or follow me on twitter to see more posts and updates as we go.
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
A little more news from NVIDIA today, but unlike the news post below, this isn't negative. NVIDIA is still waiting to release a next-generation card to compete with AMD's 5000-series that has been available since late September and while we know that something is coming on March 26th, they are teasing consumers once again with some early performance numbers.
Before you get too excited, the benchmark that NVIDIA chose to show of is the Heaven demo; an impressive piece of software but one that is a benchmark only and will likely have no real overlap with game performance - much like 3DMark. In the video below NVIDIA's Tom Petersen walks us through some details on what tessellation is and how it can improve the user experience for PC gamers and then shows some comparative performance between the GTX 480 and AMD's Radeon HD 5870. This is all good news for NVIDIA, no doubt about that. But is anyone else tired of these types of marketing gimmicks to attempt to keep gamers interested while we wait and wait for something tangible to be released? First we had the Fermi architecture unveiling at GTC, then the reveal of NVIDIA Surround and 3D Surround at CES, followed by the GF100 features discussed just after CES, we got a countdown timer that revealed a date of when the cards are going to be announced and now this video that shows us basically the same things on display at CES but with the tag line of "coming very very soon."
We keep posting it (and maybe this is our fault) because I think there are still some readers interested enough to keep paying attention. Personally though, it's time for NVIDIA to deliver.
Tom Petersen Director of Technical Mkt at NVIDIA describes how the performance of GeForce GTX 480 compares to existing solution. We highlight the different aspects of the benchmark and how the new GeForce excels in tessellation. Tom also offers a quick peak at how 3DVision Surround is pushing PC gaming forward.
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
Were you thinking of stopping by NVIDIA.com to get the latest 196.75 drivers released this week? Well don't. Did you already download those drivers and have them running on your system right now? Uninstall them and revert back to an older version! Why all the commotion? There are confirmed reports now of the 196.75 driver killing perfectly good NVIDIA-based graphics cards by turning off the fan at the wrong time. Which is pretty much ANY time I think.
Here is NVIDIA's official response as of 9pm tonight: NVIDIA 196.75 Driver Alert
We are aware that some customers have reported fan speed issues with the latest 196.75 WHQL drivers on NVIDIA.com. Until we can verify and root cause this issue, we recommend that customers do not download this driver. Instead, please stay with, or return to 196.21 WHQL drivers. Release 196.75 drivers have been temporarily removed from our website and we also are asking our partners and others to remove temporarily this 196.75 WHQL driver as well. Here’s a link for instructions on how to roll back your driver. http://www.nvidia.com/object/driver_rollback.html 
These could be next!!! It seems that no matter how hard NVIDIA might be trying to push the positive news out there, they just have had a string of bad luck going start with Fermi issues and ending with...well more Fermi issues.
Oh well, either way, if you these drivers installed get rid of them and stay away! Or maybe you can use it as an excuse to your significant other that you just HAVE to buy a new graphics card this month...
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: 3DCenter | Subject: Case and Cooling
If you are looking at all the new hardware that has come out over the past few months and are trying to figure out just how long you will need to live on Ramen noodles in order to afford an upgrade, there is an easier way. Why not overclock your machine
as far as it will go? Our Overclocking Forum is the perfect place to find out just how to do that as well as comparing your overclock to similar systems. Whether you are fairly experience and looking for a way to squeeze a little bit more out of your memory or if you are brand new to the whole process you can find what you need right there. We must admit that some things are harder to support an overclock on though.
If you do have the money to do an upgrade, there is one very popular and effective component that many people are considering. If the SSD is a little steep for you, perhaps you can settle for something that is new to you. The Trading Post is doing a lot of business lately with both requests for kit that might net you money as well as list of components for sale or for trade so you can buy and try something you never have before. You can also catch our latest Podcast where we examine the new chipset from AMD and Allyn discusses several new drives he has tested and then rips Patriot a new one as he demonstrates that his own personal machine can beat the IOPs Artemis, while it is running other tasks. |
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